A Race Against Time
by lel2768
Summary: Follows Jasper and Alice's frantic search for another vampire/human hybrid before the Volturi descend on Forks.


_Remember way back near the beginning of TCO Business, I said that I'd maybe expand on the Alice and Jasper's adventures when they were searching for Nahuel? Well this is the beginning. I did it for fandom against famine._

_I hope you will let me know if you think it's worthwhile continuing. It will be rated M just in case._

_**Not a Second to Spare**_

_**Jasper Hale**_

I felt a million emotions coming from my beautiful wife all at once. Mainly there was shock and fear, no not fear, terror. This all hit me a millisecond before she dropped the vase...

Esme cleared up the mess whilst Alice explained to everyone what was happening. The Volturi were coming, all of them, the entire guard. Something usually unheard off.

_Now I knew why she'd been terrified. We were surely doomed. There was no way that this could possibly end well._

When the inevitable discussions that followed Alice's vision calmed a little. She instructed Edward and the others to spread out across the country, hell the world if necessary, telling them to bring as many of our kind that we could depend on to witness who or what Nessie was as possible. Then she took my hand.

I sensed her need to get away from the situation and happily left our family home with her.

We had ran a little to the east when all of a sudden, Alice slowed. She told me that she had an errand to run and asked me to wait on her.

She was back within ten minutes.

"We need to leave, Jazz." She stated simply.

I looked at her, realising that my confusion must be showing on my face.

"The family is in mortal danger. You know that?" She asked

"Of course," I replied. "But what good will us leaving them do?"

"Oh, Jazz. I didn't mean forever. But I know Aro. He'll see Nessie as a collector's piece. He'll want to keep her alive."

I nodded for her to continue.

"I don't think that'll be enough. Caius will be determined that she should be destroyed. The only way we can help is to find another like Nessie, another halfbreed. That way we'll be able to prove that there is no threat to the realm from Ness."

"I see, and you think that we can do that? Find another?" I asked hesitantly.

"I don't know Jazz, I really don't. All I know is that the Cullen's are our family and we will do anything within our abilities not to let them down."

"So, what's the plan?" I asked. I felt the familiar determination flowing from Alice, and for the first time since she dropped the vase, I felt hope.

"I think we'll need to make the plan up as we go." She smiled at me and my dead heart soared as it did every time I saw her smile.

"We need to get as far from here as we can, before they come looking for us." She pointed out, turning her head in the direction of our home. Sadness emanating from every fibre of her being.

I could hardly bear it. I'd felt many emotions from my darlin' in our decades together but for the main part they were positive. She really was a ray of sunshine. Always excited, always happy. Alice was very much a 'glass half full' kind of 'gal'. I honestly couldn't remember so downhearted.

"Can't we leave them a note, let them know we'll be back?" I asked.

"No, Jazz." She said, her voice hitching slightly in her throat. "We'll be leaving them a note, but it'll have to say completely the opposite. We need them to believe that we were frightened for our lives and have left forever."

"Alice, sweetheart..." I was shocked at her response. "We can't do that, they won't believe it, I'm a soldier for fucks sake. They won't believe that we're cowards."

"Language, Jasper." She sounded just like Esme in that moment.

"Sorry, darlin'," I replied. I rarely cursed in her company. It wasn't gentlemanly.

"That's okay." Her smile didn't meet her eyes. "I understand that this goes against every principle you have. But we need to try to make them believe it though. If they have any idea that we will come back then Aro will see it in Edward's mind. So they need to think that we've gone for good."

I nodded, finally understanding where she was coming from. I don't know why I'd even thought to challenge her in the first place.

"Do you think Sam would allow us to cross their territory?" She asked me. "I think that we could cover a lot of ground in the water, if you see what I mean?"

"I don't see why not." I honestly didn't think this would be a problem. "I mean, Bree has them all wrapped around her little finger and they know we pose no threat to them." I replied.

"Well, let's see then." She said. We took each others hands and ran to the Quileute border.

When we arrived we didn't have long to wait before Sam, along with Paul and Jared joined us.

"Alice, Jasper, what a pleasant surprise." Sam spoke sincerely. "Is there a problem? Something we can help you with?"

"Hi Sam, guys." Alice smiled at them warmly as she spoke. "As it happens, we do have a little problem, and yes, you can help us."

"What's up?" Sam asked.

"I can't explain everything to you right now, Sam. I'm still working on the detail." She teased. "Edward will explain everything to you in the morning. But for now we'd appreciate it if you could let us cross your land. We have to leave and the best way would be if we could swim from the beach in La Push."

"And the others, they know about this, they're okay with it?" He asked.

"They will, Sam. If you could give them this note," Alice replied, handing a piece of paper to Sam. "It would be advantageous all round though, if you could wait until the morning to give it to them?"

"Of course, anything to be of assistance to you both." Sam replied, clearly understanding that if Alice said it was best left to the morning, then it probably would be.

And with that they escorted us through the dense forest on the border of our lands, then through their tiny village that was filled with many houses, most no bigger than Billy's, and finally to the beach.

"Other than to wish you both luck, I'm not quite sure what to say now." Sam said.

"Wishing us luck is the best thing you can do for us." Alice assured him. "You've become a good friend to us, Sam." She said. "Thank you for that. We hope you will remain a friend to us and to the Cullen's."

Sam looked a little bewildered. I felt his confusion at Alice's words and some tension from Paul and Jared, which, in itself wasn't really that unusual.

"Goodbye, Sam, and thank you." I bade him as Alice and I walked into the ocean, neither of us turning back to look at the place we'd considered to be home for such a long time.

We swam for hours, not taking any time to marvel at the beautiful wonders of the ocean. The coral reefs, the fish and crustaceans that seemed to hide from our very presence.

The pacific ocean changed as we swam. At first it was bleak, black but as the sun started to come up, the colours began to change. Black turned to navy blue. Navy gradually turned to aqua, with hues of orange as the sun got stronger in the sky.

We broke through the surf, safe in the knowledge that we were far enough away from any shore to be sure to avoid any exposure.

"Do you know yet where we're headed, Alice?" I asked, treading water.

"I think we should keep heading south." She replied. "We should reach the coast of Mexico by nightfall. I brought my credit card with me, in case of emergencies."

She showed me a little purse, she'd cleverly stored under her coat. It was waterproof. I hadn't noticed it before.

"I have our passports too. The ones that Jenks made for us." She added. "We can fly from there to Texas and then down to Brazil. I think that's probably the best place for us to start our search."

I didn't really understand why she thought that, but I would never dream of arguing with her.

I kissed her passionately but briefly before we both ducked under the water, we needed to keep going. I felt our joint sense of urgency.

Twilight had descended by the time we reached the coast of northern Mexico. We surfaced again and Alice told me that we should go just a little farther south to avoid having to cross the gulf of California. She suggested we should head for Mazatlan and try to fly from their to Houston or Dallas. We could connect from either of them to Brazil. She wanted to contact Kuare, one of the housekeepers we employed when any of us visited Esme's Island.

I quickly agreed, but suggested that when we arrived in Texas, we should spend a few hours there to talk and make more definite plans. In my mind, it would not be conducive to success to just keep running without a concrete plan.

When we finally emerged from the ocean, darkness had fallen completely. We were on a deserted beach, in soaking wet clothes.

"Alice, we can't travel like this. We need to get some dry clothes and supplies." I suggested.

"You're right, Jazz." She agreed. "We'll need to get some supplies. I'm sorry, I should have thought this out more."

_Why the fuck is she apologising. I know she'd had no time to plan ahead. She'd thought to bring our passports and a credit card. What more could we need?_

"Alice Cullen, don't you dare apologise to me." I told her. "We've gotten this far. We'll manage, hell darlin' I'll find a store and get us some clothes. Right now, you should get out of those wet ones." I said slightly suggestively, a smirk on my lips.

"You wanna help me with that soldier boy?" She laughed.

"Of course, always."

I moved towards her and for the next hour, we made sweet love on the deserted beach. I felt every bit of her sadness at leaving out family, every bit of her euphoria as I showed her just how much she meant to me as our bodies connected in the most intimate of ways. I loved this woman beyond anything imaginable to a human. I would do anything to please her. Hell, I'd happily die for her if it was possible.

Too soon, she reminded me that time was not on our side. We still needed dry clothes and some other essential items.

"Wait here," I told her. "The town isn't too far away. Did you bring your cellphone?"

"Yes," her response was quick, our agenda now back at the top of her list.

"Can you organise the flights we need, whilst I do some shopping?" I asked.

"Of course," she said.

"Good, I'll leave that to you and meet you back here as soon as I can." I told her.

I knew that I'd need to hunt before boarding any aeroplane. Luckily I came across a herd of some kind of sheep as I headed towards the town. I quickly drained two of them and immediately felt better.

It didn't take me long to find a mall. I broke in through the roof space. A favorite way for our kind. I made my way through the rafters until I located a clothing store. Alice would, for once, just have to accept what they had. I doubted that there were any designer labels to be found in this small place.

I picked up some jeans and a few long sleeved tee shirts for both of us. We'd need hard wearing clothes where we were going. I also found some combat trousers that I was sure Alice would hate, but look sexy as hell in. I took those along with some under garments and socks. I left the store in the same way as I'd gotten in, through the roof. No-one would ever know I'd been there. At least not until the next stock take. A few doors down I saw a sports store. I left my stash in the rafters and entered the store. I found us some decent hiking boots and a large waterproof back pack. Back up in the rafters I placed everything in the back pack before heading back to my wife.

I hoped she'd managed to arrange our flights and maybe even hunted herself.

I felt strange. It was little like being a soldier again. I was on a mission and this time there was no option but to succeed...

~ARAT~

A/N 2 – so what did you think? Should I keep it going? I know – this would mean another WIP for me – so much for one at a time. Lol

Please review, I need opinions.

I had a banner made for this. It was made by the amazing evieeden. Check it out on my profile. Thanks Tali...


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